Posted on 06/17/2012 1:04:42 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
ATHENS -The pro-bailout New Democracy party came in first Sunday in Greece's national election, and its leader has proposed forming a pro-euro coalition government.
"The Greek people voted today to stay on the European course and remain in the euro zone... there will be no more adventures, Greece's place in Europe will not be put in doubt," New Democracy leader Antonis Samaras said. He said voters chose "policies that will bring jobs, growth, justice and security.
His party beat the anti-bailout Syriza party, which wanted to cancel Greece's international bailouts.
Syriza chief Alexis Tsipras conceded the election but vowed to continue its fight against the punishing terms of an EU/IMF bailout saving the country from bankruptcy. "From Monday, we will continue the fight," Tsipras told supporters. "A new day for Greece has already dawned.
An official projection released by the interior ministry showed conservative New Democracy taking 29.5 percent, with the radical leftist Syriza bloc just behind at 27.1 percent. The PASOK Socialists were set to take 12.3 percent.
Because of a 50-seat bonus given to the party which comes first, that result would give New Democracy and PASOK 161 seats in the 300-seat parliament, in an alliance committed to a 130 billion euro ($164 billion) EU/IMF bailout keeping the country from bankruptcy.
Central banks stood ready to intervene in case of financial turmoil, as Greece held its second national election in just six weeks to try to select a new government after an inconclusive ballot on May 6.
(Excerpt) Read more at worldnews.msnbc.msn.com ...
The Greeks just snatched defeat from the jaws of victory...
“ouch”, said the shorts.
Why do you say that? Either outcome was set up (in the short term) to create a bullish outcome. Old bailout or new bailout. The party continues until it doesn’t.
Because they lose money when the market goes up.
This just the xxxxxxth step in a never ending series of redefining failure as success. This is not the endo of anything.
Not so fast:
“Pasok Throws A Monkey Wrench Into Coalition Discussions”
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/pasok-throws-monkey-wrench-coalition-discussions
Also, I hear PASOK is not pro bailout unless austerity measures are scrapped.
All others want to scrap the austerity measures and keep on p!ssing away money they don't have.
You are right.
The Euro is not the problem; the problem is the over-spending governments. The discipline provided by the Euro has laid bare the unsustainability of out-of-control social welfare spending. Kudos to the Greeks for showing some common sense.
Under the Euro, the Greeks cannot simply devalue and inflate away their problems for another day. Wish we could say the same.
No, the other party (Syriza, radical leftists) was the one that would have been bad news. They wanted to keep on spending like lunatics, although I never figured out where they thought the money would come from, and they are the ones who have been out tearing up the town.
The ND party is conservative, and the bailout in question will be accompanied by severe government spending restrictions.
“The discipline provided by the Euro has laid bare the unsustainability of out-of-control social welfare spending.”
The austerity measures are not free market reforms, actually they’re more in the way of tax increases and less in the way of spending cuts/reducing government. What Greece needs is a drastic reduction in the size of government, pro business reforms plus returning money to the producers via tax cuts. But so far they refuse to to so.
The Euro just makes Greece’s problems the problems of more fiscally responsible nations like Germany when they’re constantly hassled for bailout funds. Look for countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy to be lining up with their hands out next.
No, the Syriza party thinks they can bluff the rest of the EU into letting them off the hook and stay in the Euro. In reality they would have been tossed out of the Euro. That would force the Greeks to go back to the Drachma, which would allow them to devalue and regain a measure of competiveness for their economy. Until that happens all the austerity in the world is not going to help. All they are looking at is a decade or more of economic misery.
No, the Syriza party thinks they can bluff the rest of the EU into letting them off the hook and stay in the Euro. In reality they would have been tossed out of the Euro. That would force the Greeks to go back to the Drachma, which would allow them to devalue and regain a measure of competiveness for their economy. Until that happens all the austerity in the world is not going to help. All they are looking at is a decade or more of economic misery.
No, the Syriza party thinks they can bluff the rest of the EU into letting them off the hook and stay in the Euro. In reality they would have been tossed out of the Euro. That would force the Greeks to go back to the Drachma, which would allow them to devalue and regain a measure of competiveness for their economy. Until that happens all the austerity in the world is not going to help. All they are looking at is a decade or more of economic misery.
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